Listening has become a lost art. A quick scan of the headlines might lead us to ask if anyone is really listening. Even though the value of listening is acknowledged by almost all groups across the divides of our landscape, the outcome has not changed much. We talk about the importance of listening, but we don’t seem to know how to listen effectively. One of the most common responses to this reality is that we don’t feel heard. We feel invisible, disconnected, isolated.
We are speaking more and listening less, with little time for thoughtful reflection or connection. As a result, there is an epidemic of loneliness and a deep sense of polarization and division throughout the world community. Is it possible to be heard and understood in this environment? Can we build trust across these differences in our conflicted time?
Kay Lindahl is founder of The Listening Center, author of the award-winning book, The Sacred Art of Listening, and a Certified Listening Professional. An ordained interfaith minister, she is a dedicated spokesperson for the interfaith movement, having served on the boards of key organizations and as a past Ambassador for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. She is a popular workshop leader who has presented her work in diverse settings. She demonstrates that listening is a way of being profoundly present with others and our own inner wisdom. It is a creative force that transforms relationships.
In this e-course created for Spirituality & Practice, Kay will reframe listening as a spiritual practice. Her intention in this e-course is to help build relationships, connections, and community by enhancing our capacity to listen to one another. Quaker writer Douglas Steere says: “To listen another’s soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service one human being ever performs for another.” We often think that our speaking, the words we use, is the most important part of our communication. Yet it is the quality of our listening that has the greatest impact in any conversation.
This e-course consists of 12 emails. It was originally designed to be received on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. As it is "On-Demand," you choose your own start date and frequency for delivery of the emails to your inbox. Please allow at least 24 hours when setting the start date. Sessions cannot be scheduled to begin the same day. Each session will have a component on the art of listening, spiritual practices to experience, and questions and quotes for reflection. You will also have access to the recording of the Q&A Zoom Session with Kay Lindahl that was held on August 8, 2023, when this e-course was first offered live.
Spiritual listening leads to new understanding as we connect to each other at the heart level and discover common ground and new possibilities. It is what we experience when we become a quiet, safe container into which the speaker is able to express his or her most authentic voice. There is a communion of souls. When we listen without judgment, open, curious, expectant, eager to hear, we cannot be thinking about our response, or what we are going to do next. We must learn to become a listening presence for what wants to emerge.
Overall, listening as a spiritual practice brings us closer to ourselves, to others, and to the divine. It deepens our capacity for compassion, understanding, and wisdom, transforming our relationships and our own spiritual journey. We invite you to join others in the Spirituality & Practice community as we all nurture the healing power of listening as a spiritual practice.
Available On-Demand
(choose your own start date and frequency)
$59.95
